


caught in the middle

by theheartsclub



Category: IT (2017), IT - Stephen King
Genre: Established Relationship, Homophobia, M/M, dont let anyone ever tell you that eddie kaspbrak is anything but strong, nosy neighbors always ruin everything
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-06
Updated: 2018-08-06
Packaged: 2019-06-22 23:50:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,985
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15593538
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theheartsclub/pseuds/theheartsclub
Summary: eddie and richie have a pretty smooth system running, that is until one nosy neighbor blows their whole cover





	caught in the middle

It doesn’t matter that it happens nearly every other night, somehow Richie always manages to frighten Eddie on the way through his window. Tonight is no different.

They did have plans. Well, sort of.

Plans meaning Richie said see you later when Eddie left for home once school was over that afternoon. Eddie rarely asked for confirmation on that anymore; he merely responded with the same and continued on his way, knowing that it was more than likely that Richie would end up in his bedroom one way or another in a few hours time.

When it was nearly dark and Richie still hadn’t shown, Eddie found himself at a struggle to keep his eyes from drooping shut. That was the last thing he remembered before he was catching a scream in his throat, which quickly morphed into heavy breathing as he shoved the covers away. Standing, Eddie lifted a hand with his index finger extended in the direction of a smug boy standing below his window.

“You-” he started, but soon found his hand in Richie’s grasp instead.   
“I?"

Richie was smiling. Not even grinning, the smug look on his face had disappeared. He was just smiling. Eddie was nothing short of melting.

“You need to stop scaring me,” he said, his tone much softer than originally intended. It wasn’t like he could help it. It seemed to happen every time.

“Noted, Spaghetti,” Richie replied, his hand at his forehead in the fashion of a salute. Eddie reached to take it in his own.

Eddie was about to speak, the words resting on the tip of his tongue, but they never made it past that point. He barely had a chance to take a breath before Richie’s mouth was pressed against his, the feeling of frosty fingertips reaching the small of his back.

“Glasses,” Eddie muttered against Richie’s lips still attempting to move against his own.

Richie pulled away ever so slightly, it becoming clear he was attempting to hide his confused expression. There was a dusting of pink hiding beneath the freckles on his cheeks that made Eddie smile. “What?”

“Your glasses,” Eddie repeated, gently pulling Richie’s glasses from the bridge of his nose to set them on top of the desk behind him. “Kind of makes kissing you difficult.”

Richie nodded. “Wouldn’t want that, now would we?”

The growing grin caused Eddie to merely shake his head, tangling his fingers in Richie’s uncombed curls, pulling him back into the kiss. The smile that Eddie could feel against his lips made the ever growing warmth in his chest ignite again.

There was anxiety surrounding the situation. With Eddie, there always was. This was far from the first time this had happened. No one could say quite when it started, but it had been a long while that Richie had been using Eddie’s bedroom window as a door. It had been awhile since he worried so much about his mother finding them, but it was always a thought. Richie had finally learned how to keep quiet to the best of his ability, and there was certainly a limit on what exactly they were allowed to do when they weren’t the only one’s home. Once it had become habitual, Eddie’s mind had been put at ease as much as it could be. Nothing had happened so far anyway apart from a few close calls. In under an hour preceding Eddie couldn’t believe he’d ever been so fucking stupid.

Eddie’s mother had a lot of friends. How she managed to uphold relationships while being constantly down his throat he had no idea, but somehow she made it work. Most of them he didn’t mind. They mostly avoided him, or he avoided them. Either way it was a mutually beneficial relationship. For the most part they could actually be quite helpful. If his mother was busy downstairs with friends, that meant for the time being she actually wasn’t constantly obsessing over his every move, which made it much easier for him to have Richie in his room without a constant panic attack looming over him.

Although, there was one that he had a particular distaste for. Carol did nothing but cause problems for him. As if his mother wasn’t overbearing enough, she made it her job to stick her nose in anyone and everyone’s business that wasn’t her own. Especially Eddie’s. It didn’t help that she lived directly across the street, which meant that she had an even closer eye to catch anything that might have slipped past his mother. That would be exactly what happened on this night.

Ultimately, Eddie took the blame as his own. His shades were open in the dark of the night, the light on in his room illuminating the incriminating situation to whomever wished to peer in. He had voluntarily  input himself in a softcore porno for his whole street to witness.

He’d even heard the phone ringing downstairs, but the last thing he had expected it to be was a full report on his current situation. This was the only time he had ever found himself praying for a telemarketer. Unfortunately for him, it might have been after hours.

“Carol?” Sonia answered the phone, short of breath once she caught the receiver just before the ringing cut out. “It’s late, is something wrong?”

“You never told me your Eddie was, well, one of them.”

There was immediate panic in Sonia’s tone. She didn’t know exactly what was being implied, but she knew it wasn’t good. “One of what? What are you talking about?”

“Gay,” Carol explained, not an ounce of sympathy in her voice. “You never told me he was. Of course, you’re probably embar-”

“He isn’t. I never told you because that simply isn’t true. What would lead you to say that sort of thing?”

Carol laughed. Really, anyone would. “Well, the leading cause of my suspicions would be what I’m looking at as we speak. You know the Tozier boy? You aren’t exactly fond of him. Him and your son look to be in quite the compromising position at the moment. I think you’ve ought to head upstairs and see for yourself.”

With no response from the other end, the line dropped dead. Eddie wished that he could too. How neither of them heard the footsteps leading up to his bedroom was beyond him, but he couldn’t be bothered to think of that  once the door of his bedroom flew open.

Now Eddie would prefer to not be caught in any position remotely similar to the one they were in at the moment, but sat atop his desk with Richie’s mouth on his own and a thumb hooked in the waistband of his jeans certainly nowhere near the top of his list.

“Eddie.”

At the sound of his mother’s voice Eddie felt his whole face flush of any coloring, him and Richie separating like they had never been together in the first place.

“Mrs. K-” Richie began, a grin growing across his face as quick as he could manage.

“Richie, shut up,” Eddie spoke through gritted teeth as he watched his mother’s expression turn sour almost quicker than he’d ever seen before. He wanted to speak, he wanted to defend himself, but the words never came. They couldn’t have made it past his lips because his mind had never even gotten the chance to conjure them up. Sonia spoke again before he could try, tears already past welling and falling down her cheeks in waves. He always hated when she cried.

“Eddie, you’re not- You can’t do this. I know you’re not like this. Please don’t do this to me. It’s only a mistake, we all make mistakes. It’s not your fault, I know that. I know it’s his. I told you.”

Eddie could feel his own eyes beginning to sting with tears, but he tried his best to keep them from falling. “Ma, please. I-”

The tension in the room only grew darker. “No. I told you. I knew he was no good, but you never listen to me. You never listen to your mother anymore. And see what happens? See what happens when you associate yourself with garbage? They try to make you like them. You don’t want to be like them. You aren’t like him.”

For once in his life, Richie was silent. He stood beside where Eddie was still sat, stunned like he’s only been a few times in his life. He was too afraid to even move, to even reach over and grab his glasses from where they were  set. All he could do was stare at the blurry figure in the doorway that was talking about him like he wasn’t even there.

That scared Eddie more than anything his mother was saying. Normally, no matter how many times he was told not to in certain situations, Richie would speak up for himself. Now he was just stunned silent. That lit something inside of Eddie that he didn’t really know was there before this.

“Don’t talk about him like that,” he said with confidence that no one would have expected him to have.

Sonia looked almost thrown off of her course. “What did you say?”

“I said,” Eddie stated as he planted his feet on the ground once again. He was still much smaller than his own mother, even at the age he was now, but for the moment he felt a bit bigger. “Don’t talk about him like that. Him, Richie, my boyfriend. You don’t get to say anything about him, or me. Not now, not ever.”

Richie turned to him, full of shock looking almost childlike with his unfocused gaze and flushed cheeks. Eddie would say it were cute if he wasn’t still shaking with fear. “Eds, are you su-“

“I’m sure. I know what I’m doing,” he interrupted, facing forward once again. Only this time he advanced towards the door. “If that’s all you have to say, I’m gonna go now.”

Sonia’s expression shifted to fear. “Eddie wait. We can talk about this. I know you’re good. I know this isn’t you.

Eddie shook his head, holding his hand out until Richie took it, standing alongside him. “This is me, Ma. I’m not sorry. I was for a long time, but not anymore.”

It was with that Eddie left through the hallway and out the front door, Richie trailing close behind him. His mother was shouting in the distance, but the ringing in his ears blocked that out. This time he was thankful for it.

“Eddie,” Richie said softly, quietly as they were down the street closing in on his car. “That was awesome. I mean really, really awesome. And I hate to cramp your style, but what now?”

Eddie shrugged, wiping a tear that had slipped out and onto his cheek. “I’m not leaving forever. I think we both know that. Just for right now, I need to be away from there.”

“Are you scared?” Richie asked, caution laced in his words.

“Terrified,” Eddie said with a laugh. “ But it’s done now. She knows. She would’ve found out eventually. I’m sure I’ll cry about it tonight and then we’ll all get over it. Or maybe not. I’m trying this new thing where I’m not so scared of everything.”

Richie stopped them, turning to face Eddie with a smile. “I’m proud of you, you know. It’s obvious to say that this wasn’t easy, but I was there, I know. You’re stronger than you give yourself credit for.”

Eddie returned the smile, pulling Richie into a tight hug. “I love you. I know you know, but I really, really love you.”

Richie laughed softly, pressing his nose into Eddie’s hair. “I love you too, Eds. Forever and ever.”

“Forever and ever,” Eddie repeated, and this time he let the tear fall down his face. It was a good one this time.


End file.
